Transcript for After Nearly a Decade of Being Behind Bars, Ryan Ferguson Is a Free Man

Next a very different story, a story of vicinity occasion tonight and a family's inwavering faith. A 29-year-old former eagle scout named ryan ferguson spent ten years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Tonight he's finally home free with his fame. "Nightline" anchor dan abrams tells us how. Reporter: Today for the first time in a decade ryan ferguson woke up a free man. The 29-year-old released from prison, his murder conviction overturned. His parents picked him up. Their faith in their son, a former eagle scout, never wavered. Whenever I finally saw them, whenever they took the shackles off me and I was able to hug my mother, that second I knew and it was incredible. Reporter: His nightmare began in 2004 when a childhood friend, charles erickson told police he and ferguson had killed a respected newspaper editor for beer money over two years earlier. Ferguson was grilled for hours. I wasn't there. I didn't do anything. Reporter: Erickson kept changing his story, but in court he was clear as day. He had his foot on his back, on the victim's back and he was pulling him up on the belt. Reporter: There were food prints, fingerprints and hair, but none of it matched ferguson. Still, he was convicted. Guilty of murder in the second degree. Reporter: Sentenced to 40 years. His parents kept fighting, insisting their son was innocent AS HE SPENT HIS 20s IN A SMALL Cell. I miss all the little things, being able to open my door, being able to choose what i wanted to eat and when I wanted to eat and how I wanted to dress. Reporter: Then in 2012 under oath erickson, the accuser recanted the whole story. I lied to everybody. Reporter: I spoke to ryan ferguson while he was still in prison. You've got to be furious. Absolutely. I have suffered a lot and worse I feel like my family has suffered for more than I have. Reporter: Yesterday he was finally released. His first meal, a steak with his family. Steak and family, the second you get out, you can't beat that. Reporter: Dan abrams, abc news, new york.

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